The Massachusetts SMART Program Blocks, How Solar Actually Gets Paid

The Massachusetts SMART program is the state's headline solar incentive , the thing that makes a $25,000 rooftop array substantially more affordable over its lifetime. But the program is more complicated than most installers explain, and in 2026 it carries more weight than before: the 30% federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (25D) expired December 31, 2025, making SMART and net metering the primary levers on the economics. Block rates have been falling, the payment math involves your utility, and roughly 40 Massachusetts towns aren't eligible at all. Here's how it actually works.

What SMART is

SMART, Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target, is a production-based solar incentive funded by the state's investor-owned electric utilities (Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil) and administered by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER). It replaced the older SREC II program in 2018.

The structure: for every kWh your solar system generates, you receive a compensation rate on top of whatever you save through net metering. That rate is fixed at the time your system gets approved, and it runs for 10 years.

How blocks work

SMART compensation is divided into capacity blocks. Each utility territory has its own block schedule:

Block	Rate trajectory
Block 1	Highest rate; filled around 2019-2020
Block 2	Lower; filled 2020-2022
Block 3	Lower still; filled 2022-2024
Block 4-8	Each subsequent block 4% lower than the prior

When a block fills up, meaning enough applications have been approved to hit the block's capacity cap, new applications go into the next block at a lower rate. Recent residential rates have ranged roughly $0.05-$0.20 per kWh depending on territory, block, and adders.

Each utility (Eversource West, Eversource East, National Grid, Unitil) publishes the current block status on the SMART program portal. Some blocks fill faster than others, Eversource East historically fills fastest because of the volume in eastern Massachusetts.

What a typical system actually earns

A worked example for a typical 8 kW Massachusetts residential system:

Factor	Typical value
System size	8 kW DC
Annual production	~9,500 kWh
SMART rate (recent residential block)	$0.07/kWh
Annual SMART payment	~$665
Lifetime SMART payments (10 yrs)	~$6,650

That's on top of net metering savings (typically $1,200-$2,000/year for a system this size offsetting an average MA electric bill).

For larger systems (12-15 kW) the SMART payment scales roughly linearly, landing in the $8,000-$12,000 lifetime range.

SMART adders

The base compensation rate can stack with adders for specific attributes:

• Low-income adder, for systems serving low-income households or low-income housing
• Community shared solar adder, for systems with multiple off-takers
• Brownfield adder, for systems sited on contaminated land
• Canopy adder, for systems built as canopies over parking lots
• Public entity adder, for municipal and government installations
• Storage adder, for systems with paired battery storage above a threshold

Most residential rooftop systems qualify for the base rate only. The adders matter most for commercial and community solar, but the storage adder can be meaningful for whole-home backup setups.

Net metering, the other half of the math

SMART is paid on top of net metering. Net metering means:

• Solar production above your home's usage flows back to the grid
• Your meter "spins backward", the utility credits you for the kWh
• Credits roll over month-to-month
• At the end of the calendar year, excess credits can sometimes be paid out at a wholesale rate

For Eversource and National Grid customers, net metering credits are worth roughly $0.18-$0.28 per kWh (the retail rate including supply and delivery charges). That's actually larger per-kWh than the SMART payment for most blocks.

The full economics for a typical Massachusetts homeowner:

Income type	Per kWh	Annual (8 kW system, ~9,500 kWh)
Net metering credit	$0.20 average	~$1,900
SMART compensation	$0.07 average	~$665
Total	$0.27	~$2,565/year

The 30% federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (25D) expired December 31, 2025 and no longer applies to 2026 installs. That removed what was typically a $7,500-$8,400 one-time reduction on a typical install. Payback periods are correspondingly longer in 2026, expect 9-14 years depending on block, sun exposure, and electric rate, rather than the 6-10 year figures from prior years when the credit was available.

Why MLP-town residents don't get SMART

SMART is funded by the investor-owned utilities through their ratepayers. Roughly 40 Massachusetts communities get their electricity from a Municipal Light Plant instead:

• Belmont, Concord, Reading, Wellesley, Norwood, Hingham
• Taunton, Mansfield, Middleborough, Peabody, Braintree
• Holyoke, Westfield, Chicopee, South Hadley, Shrewsbury
• Hudson, Stow, Littleton, Boxborough, Hull, and ~25 others

If you live in one of these, SMART doesn't apply. Your MLP usually runs its own solar program with different rules:

• Net metering at retail rates (often as good or better than SMART territory's net metering)
• Their own production credit or up-front rebate (varies widely , some MLPs are generous, others minimal)
• Different interconnection process, through the town utility, not through Eversource/National Grid

Some MLPs run notably good solar programs (Holyoke Gas & Electric and Belmont Light, for example, both have programs widely regarded as favorable). Others are minimal. Check your specific MLP's solar program page for current rates.

The 30% federal credit (25D) expired December 31, 2025 and is no longer available for any 2026 install, MLP-town residents and investor-owned-utility customers alike. MLP-town homeowners in 2026 are working with net metering and whatever their specific MLP program offers.

Where the SMART block schedule stands now

The program has been declining over time by design. Each successive block is roughly 4% lower than the previous one. The state's broader clean-energy policy is shifting toward different incentive vehicles (the Clean Peak Standard, the Mass Save heat pump rebates), so SMART is gradually becoming a smaller piece of the overall solar economics, and with the federal 25D credit now expired, it is proportionally more important to the numbers than it was in prior years.

Practically, that means:

• Applying sooner usually beats waiting, block rates only go down.
• Battery storage adders are increasingly worth pricing in.
• Pairing solar with a heat pump maximizes the total stack, Mass Save heat pump rebates + SMART solar + net metering, but only if you're in investor-owned-utility territory for SMART. Note: the federal 25C heat pump credit and 25D solar credit both expired December 31, 2025 and are not available for 2026 installations.

Common installer mistakes to watch for

Three things that recur in Massachusetts solar quotes:

1. Quoting against an older block rate. A contractor whose template still uses Block 2 numbers will overstate your SMART income. Make sure they're quoting against the current applicable block for your utility territory.
2. Assuming SMART applies to MLP-town customers. Some installers based outside MLP-town areas miss this. If you're in an MLP town and the quote includes SMART revenue, that's a flag.
3. Ignoring net metering policy changes. Eversource and National Grid have proposed (and partially implemented) changes to net metering that can affect newer systems. The contractor should be quoting against the current rules in force.

The takeaway

The Massachusetts SMART program is real money, typically $5,000-$12,000 over 10 years for a residential system. But it's only one piece of the stack, declines over time, and doesn't apply to about 40 MA towns. The right contractor knows your specific utility's current block rate, has read your specific MLP's program rules if applicable, and quotes the total stack, net metering and SMART (or MLP equivalent), against your actual house. The federal 25D credit expired December 31, 2025 and is not part of the 2026 calculation.

For specific current block rates by utility and time period, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center maintains the official SMART program portal, search "Massachusetts SMART program" or "MA DOER SMART" for the up-to-date numbers.